INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS

There are currently 15 Industrial Partners attached to the programme. They were recruited earlier in 2004 as part of the process of ensuring that the skill set we are building with the students is required by local employers.

We plan to instigate an 'Employers and Mediaonics' seminar where a tighter relationship will hopefully be forged. West Midlands Skillset have offered to host the seminar. Skillset is the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries (broadcast, film, video, interactive media and photo imaging).

Some of the Industrial Partners made a direct input into the Mediaonics Fantasia event. For example Jeff Jephcott, the editor of Newsquest Midlands South Ltd, was interviewed about "what he did when he left school", how he got into the media and what 'new media' means to him and his business. We hope to build a collection of these case studies as part of the resources we are building to support the Mediaonics and Mediaonics+ courses.

The Industrial Partners' role will include agreeing on a set of criteria by which to judge the attainment of the Mediaonics students, acting as online assessors in the appraisal of each student and supporting the programme in other ways that are beneficial to students, employers and schools and colleges.

Trilby are currently developing online tools to facilitate Industrial involvement as well as to give students a direct responsibility for their career paths. These include www.LearnLog.com to track goals, www.multimediafolio.net for an ePortfolio and tools for schools to organise offSite visits to cultural companies - www.offSiteMag.net. Together this package is called The Experience Designers Toolkit and it aims to give schools and colleges the opportunity to "experiment with Tomlinson" many years before something similar is forced upon them.

We think this industry-led approach helps them to get acquainted with the governments proposal for students to spend more time out of school in other learning settings, as well as providing models of using online systems for individualised and student self-directed learning.

The Creative Industries have widely applauded the governments pledge for all young people to have creative opportunities - the so called Creative Sparks initiative - and we are committed to fostering and nurturing "young creatives" even at the earliest of ages. Events such as The Garden of Imaginary Delights provide the focus and the opportunity for worthwhile partnerships and collaborations to put some of these ideas into practice.